


Rules

by Bootleg_Luz



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, How Do I Tag, Human Experimentation, I which between all the pronouns for pidge, NaNoWriMo 2020, Non-Consensual Body Modification, Post-Canon, Recovery, almost arund 2000 words, also the chapters not out yet, besides as a multishipper i would just be ignoring the side of myself that actually, but i swear it is, but its like barly mentioned, but who am i to control what u ship, hunk and pidge are ready to prove some assholes wrong, i mean its not meant to, im self projectong with my identity problems okay, its a long one, lance is infact alive, shes gonna be gender fluid, so... much.. . fake science..., somewhat shipped that, theres on chapter that might fuel some plance shippers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-03
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:42:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 11,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27374404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bootleg_Luz/pseuds/Bootleg_Luz
Summary: !!! Updated bi-weekly ( or everyday of the week if ur lucky) for NaNoWriMo!!!Pidge Holt is not okay.Not now. Why would they be okay right now?Who would be okay if they found out their friend was missing for three months through the news. The news.Yeah. She's not okay.She knows Hunks not okay either. Even if hes acting like everything's okay.It's not okay.AKA: that one post canon fic where Hunk has to make rules for pidge as they search for their missing best friend.
Relationships: Eh - Relationship, Hunk & Pidge | Katie Holt, i mean u do u, if u see as shippy i could say its plunk, mostly - Relationship, this can be seen as shippy if u want
Kudos: 4





	1. Prolouge

Prologue  
By Moony

Pidge Holt is not okay. 

Not now. Why would they be okay right now? 

Who would be okay if they found out their friend was missing for three months through the news. The news. 

Yeah. She's not okay. 

She knows Hunks not okay either. Even if hes acting like everything's okay. 

It's not okay. 

\---

Everyone's already given up on him. 

And Pidge is pissed.

Pissed is a under statement. 

They are not okay. Theyre not. 

They know Hunks also pissed. 

And it's scary. 

Pidge has never seen Hunk truly angry except once. 

Hes rightfuly pissed. His bestfriend has been missing for a year, and everyone accept the girl whose hacked into the worlds most secured computer more than once, believes that theyre dead by now. 

Pidge is also rightfuly pissed. 

They know hes not dead, and theyre going to find him. 

Whatever it takes. 

\---

Hunk joins him in searching three months into her search. 

Hes grateful.


	2. Rule 1; take breaks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> >   
> As far as Hunk is concerned, Pidge should calm down. Yeah, she's justified in being pissed (he's pissed too,) but as she types away at her computer letting out sounds of frustration when she hits a road block (which is about every two minutes. It's been a bad day.) Hunk is ready to drag her from her spot and start a pillow fight. 
> 
> Or: daily life on The Searcher 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I post how many chapters I have done that week lol

Rule One: take breaks. It's important. 

By Moony

{The Searcher, 9:00 pm earth time} 

As far as Hunk is concerned, Pidge should calm down. Yeah, she's justified in being pissed (he's pissed too,) but as she types away at her computer letting out sounds of frustration when she hits a road block (which is about every two minutes. It's been a bad day.) Hunk is ready to drag her from her spot and start a pillow fight.

Which is exactly what he's doing right now. 

"Let go of me! I found something!I need to look into it more! " She shouted as he threw her over his shoulder. 

"I get your pissed and all, I am too, but it's been days since we lost the last lead. You need to calm down, " Hunk said and sat Vher down on the couch of the run down ship. 

They had stole it from some pirates, he remembers. They had needed a base of operations in their search. It had become some sort of makeshift home. 

Pidge crossed their arms. "I know, I know, I shouldn't overwork myself, "she looks the other way. 

She's blaming herself again. She thinks it's her fault you can't find him. 

It's the little things. 

The little things that let's Hunk know she needs a break. 

He sits down beside her. " What about we watch some alien movies, and then you tell me what you found okay? We have snacks leftover from the last time. 

Last time was a while ago. When the idea that Lance was missing like her family had been once had truly crashed onto her. 

That day was something. 

"Okay… " Pidge whispers out. 

Hunk smiles. It took a few years, but she was more open now. More willing to accept things like comfort. 

"C'mon, let's go figure what to watch. "

{The Searcher, 9:15 pm earth time}

Movie nights where rare. 

Not in the 'we don't have time' sense, more of 'only do it when we really really need a mental health break, ' type of sense. 

The movie playing on the screen was something unpronounceable to man. They called it 'Hell sounds'. 

He was just staring at the screen at the point. Pidge had started nodding off a while ago, Hunk was just waiting to fall asleep. 

It was almost like home. 

Not home like, home with your family. It's like the home you feel with your close, close friends. The ones you stuck with til the very end while the others drifted away at some point. 

They were just missing someone from their trio, the one that truly bring them together. 

The person that made it truly home. 

He fell asleep to these thoughts. 

{The Searcher, 7:45 am earth time}

At breakfast, after they woke up from the engine almost explodong on them for the fifth time that month, Pidge was happier than yesterday. 

Hunk could tell. 

"So, yesterday you said you found something," He asked, before shoveling some food into his mouth. 

"Yeah, I found something, " Pidge says and slides her goo around her plate. "The only thing I can come up with is a mix between a science cult and a space mafia. "

"Not the weirdest things I've seen, " Hunk commented. 

Pidge nodded. She scoops a large amount of goo together and leans down, before slurping up half the goo like spaghetti. 

Hunk leans away from her. "How do you even eat like that, it's bad enough with that sound when your not almost choking. "

Pidge scowls, glaring at him. "Anyways, the whole space mafia cult is called The Scientists of Future. Which is a stupid name, but what can you do. "

Hunk laughs. "That is a stupid name, sounds like something from a bad anime. "

"Well, the name is stupid, but the organization is real serious, " Pidge says while getting up with her now empty plate. She dumps it in the "sink".(It was less of a sink, and more of a hole you dumped stuff in and hours later popped out a clean something. They had taken to calling it the "cleaning hole from hell, ") 

She turns and wipes her hands on her pants. "Anyways, The Scientists of Future, or SoF for short, is a large group of rogue Olkari and Unilu. The rogue Olkari are some of Olkari that were off planet when Olkarion was destroyed who will stop at nothing to figure out how to bring olkari back using science. The Unilu is where the rogues get their supplies from in return black market selling of genetically modified setient and non-setient species who have had DNA from native Earth animals. "

She pauses to catch a breath, and to sit across from Hunk. 

"Why earth I will never know, but anyways. While the Olkari side of SoF sells the Unilu side Genetically Modified Setient and Non-setient species, or MSN, the Unilu mostly use them for arena fights. And very rarely, as even these are seen as sickos in a cult that sells sentient species, use them for… their own pleasure… disgusting, " Pidge shivers visibly. 

Hunk also shivers. 

People are sick sometimes. 

{The Searcher, 2:00 pm earth time}

The ship was quiet. 

The ship was always quiet at 2:00 pm. It's normal. 

It was when they searched. It was when Pidge hacked into leads, and Hunk flew out to nearby planets to see if anyone knew anything about Lance McClain (or to look for odd jobs for money.) 

It's normal for the ship to be quiet. 

The schedule goes like this: pidge looks into leads, hunk leaves, pidge over works herself, Hunk returns around 4:00 pm with nothing 85% of the time. Hunk is worried. 

{The Searcher 4:00 pm, earth time}

Hunk returned from his search with virtually nothing except a rumour or two that they couldn't use at all.

He knew what to expect. 

Pidge had laid down in the couch, her face in the pillow. Her laptop lay open on the floor. 

It was usual to find her like this. 

Which reminded Hunk that life wasn't all the great. Not that it ever had been after space. 

Today was one of the easier days. 

{The Searcher, 8:00 pm earth time}

"Hey Hunk? " Pidge whispered from her bundle of blankets. 

Hunks perked up from what he was tinkering with. "Yeah Pidge?"

"Do you think I'm leaning on you to much?"

"Well, remember that time when I got trapped on the other side of a cave in?"

"Why does this matter?"

"... You see, you helped me when that happened, and continue to help, sure it's smaller things and less often then what I do for you, but we still care for eachother… "


	3. Rule 12; don't get used to succeeding.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ur gonna see some interactions with me and my beta/cousin after this :D
>
>> Waking up had always been something Hunk hated. It messed up his sleep schedule if woke at the wrong time, and the added addition of having to fully wake up in the first place. 

Rules 12; don't get used to succeeding  
By moony (and beta'd by Zoey)

{The Searcher, one week later, 7:00 am Earth Time) 

Waking up had always been something Hunk hated. It messed up his sleep schedule if woke at the wrong time, and the added addition of having to fully wake up in the first place. 

Now he honestly didn't care. Guess five years or more in space did that to people. 

He's happy today. He's happy today because they had gotten more information on SoF, and were about to find the files that held the shipments of the MSNs. 

If only it hadn't gone to shit. 

{The Searcher, 10:00 a.m Earth time}

One thing Hunk hates about space is the goo. The goo is sticky and gets in between his teeth, it also tastes horrible. 

But it let's him and Pidge live another day without starving to death, whose he to complain? 

{The Searcher, 10:30 a.m Earth time}

"Okay, so since today is going to take a lot of energy, I attempted to make this goo less disgusting, " Hunk said and set the players down on the table. 

Pidge smiled at him before doing the uncivilized thing of slurping up half her goo like spaghetti and almost choking. 

Hunk grumbles about her needing to slow down but sits down on his side of the table. 

"So, " Pidge starts off, already putting her plate in the cleaning hole from hell, "Today I gotta go in alone to one of the main bases of operation for SoF, because it's the most stealthy, right? "

She crashes down on her chair, it leans back on the wall before slamming down on the floor. 

"As much as I hate this plan, yes. " Hunk says, "I'll be the one putting the security on loop so no one gets suspicious, while you sneak into the main computer mainframe and look for the shipping files-"" Which all have a photo of the MSN being shipped to an arena? "" Yes. "

"We do this at 4:00 pm."

{The Searcher, 3:50 pm earth time}

"Hey Hunk? "

"Yes? "

"What happens if we do find him? "

"I- I don't know… "

{The Searcher, 4:30 pm}

"Shit. I lost half the files to the explosion…"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i fell asleep for .3 secs- its fine btw
> 
> Hey whore  
> Wake up  
> …   
> Bish. 
> 
> I had scrolled down go hell lol)) 
> 
> (it corrected itself before i could correct it-)(BTW this is post canon but thats barely mentioned there's like virtually no spoilers) (glowing pee crafter )(lol)( the healing pee)yes) I fell asleep stroking the mousepad..
> 
> Copy pasted from doc itself lol


	4. Rule 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> > "Woah, so what's this? " He asks. He knew it was something useful but he couldn't exactly place it.

Rule 5; I know u want to comfort me and all but take time for urself - pidge  
By moony, beta'd by Zoey

{The searcher 5:20 pm earth time}

"Of course we lost the files that had the shipments! Of fucking course!"

Hunk watches as Pidge throws the chip to the ground. At that moment he's glad that it's made of near indestructible metal, or else it wouldn't have survived any of her breakdowns. 

He can't do anything. It would just make things worse, the least he could do was wait it out and be ready for the aftermath. 

So he waits. 

{The searcher 6:00 pm earth time}

When Pidge is done yelling and crying with no in between, Hunk simply hands her a fluffy blanket. 

{The searcher, 11:12 am earth time}

Hunk smiles as Pidge let's out a sound of happiness. She had insisted she look at the files once more, see if she could salvage anything useful. 

"Hunk! I found something! Get over here!" She exclaims. 

He peers over her shoulder to look at the laptop. In the sea of random tabs and downloads, was a word document. 

It was filled with names of planets and dates in GST (galactic ship time; the time belonging to all ships off planet.) 

"Woah, so what's this? " He asks. He knew it was something useful but he couldn't exactly place it. 

"Well, " Pidge turns around her spinny chair. "It's the dates of arena fights and where they are! We can check these places out and look for him, and free others along the way!"

"Genius."

"I know I am."

{The searcher, 2:00 am earth time}

Hunk wakes up to soft footsteps and the sound of his door wooshing open. 

He sits up. His eyes quickly adjusted to the dark. "Hey Pidge," He says tiredly. 

Pidge doesn't answer, she instead sniffles and sits down next to his bed. 

Hunk takes his blanket and sits down next to her. 

"What's wrong? "

"Nightmare… "

{The searcher, 9:00 am earth time}

"Hey Hunk?"

"Yeah Pidge?"

"Are you okay? "

"... "


	5. Rule 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> >   
> Hunk lets out a small gasp of happiness. Pidge hadn't eaten all the space chocolate strawberries. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was fun to write :D
> 
> PS. Can u pls comment? I'm not forcing u, I'm more of a antisocial kudos ghost person myself but I would really appreciate it! Especially long comments! And criticism when u feel like it!

Rule 2; use calmness to your advantage  
By Moony

{The Searched 7:00 am earth time,}

The days following were calm. 

Of course it was. They were taking a slow route to arena site one (or A1) and would come in right as the first shipment of the month happened that day. 

{The searcher, 9:00 a.m earth time}

Hunk set the goo on the ground by the holoscreen. Today they were calling (not calling, he reminded himself. Sending a message and hoping it got through.) Back home, to update on their progress. 

While yes, they left and didn't leave a trace, he and Pidge didn't want anyone to worry. So they sent up a recorder and an equivalent of a space email, an untraceable one. And since you couldn't reply to the message, they didn't know if the recordings got to earth. 

"So, I guess we should start now, " Says Pidge as she turns on the holo screen camera. A blue light blinks, signaling it was indeed on. 

"I'll go first, " Hunk says and pulls out a pad of paper from his blanket. "So, we still have virtually nothing on my end of the search, but we have made a discovery. "

He pauses for dramatic effect (Pidge made a drumroll in the background.) 

"SoF!" He declares. 

"Well, technically it's called Scientists Of Future, which sounds like a really bad Anime name, " Pidge said, quickly explaining exactly what SoF was. 

"So, we're stopping by all the Arenas, hoping for information and maybe find him!" Hunk tells the camera. 

"Well, guess that's all. Bye anyone who gets this. "

{The Searcher 1:00 pm, earth time}

There was this one time when he was younger, still fresh in the space thing, when it all came crashing down on him. That he was in space, his family didn't know where he was, probably thought he was dead, and aliens exist. 

He had only known Pidge for a few months, much less than Lance who he had known his whole life, but at the time he didn't really feel comfortable going to Lance. So he went to Pidge. 

She was surprisingly good at comforting people. 

That's why he ignores the weird hurt in his head, and the emptiness he felt sometimes, instead turning his attention to Pidge. So he could help her, like she did when he was in space for the first time. 

He smiles and throws a blanket over her when she falls asleep on the couch. 

{The Searcher, 3:12 pm earth time}

Hunk doesn't know when he begins doing it. 

It just happened. It was calming, checking on the inner workings of the ship regularly. To feel the hum of the engine e under his hands. 

Calm days like these are when he truly takes time for himself. 

It's probably not healthy, but he's working on it. 

{The searcher, 4:50 pm earth time}

Pidge had started waking up around 4:40 pm. She fully woke at 4:50.

"Hey Hunk, " She smiles at him, then notices he's asleep on the ground. 

It takes a while, but she gets him on the couch. 

{The Searcher 2:01 am earth time}

Hunk lets out a small gasp of happiness. Pidge hadn't eaten all the space chocolate strawberries.


	6. Rule 55;

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> >   
> Hunk tuned it out because slowly entering the arena was /Lance/. 
> 
> Hahahahaha Hahahahaha 

Rule 55; Be good at acting!!! 

By moony, beta'd by Zoey

{Tiberius II, A1 launchpad 9:00 pm earth time. }

For the record, they thought it wouldn't be this bad. 

Let's review. 

{Tiberius II Asphosphere, 7:00 pm earth time}

It had gone well. 

Hunk had been able to use a fake Arena ID they found along with the dates for them to let them on Tiberius II. 

It was easy. 

Every part of it was easy. 

Too easy. 

Hunk had a bad feeling, the cold shiver that goes down your spine when you're alone in your bathroom at three am, the one you get when the lights flicker, the one you get when a horror movie is excited perfectly. 

It was easy. 

{Tiberius II, A1 launchpad. 7:05 pm}

They soon touched down on A1s launchpad. They could see a lot from the window of their cargo ship. 

Large six armed Unilu (and some other aliens,) we're carrying boxes and walking into the arena. 

Hunk and Pidge waited a while before nodding to each other and stepping out the ship in their disguises. 

Pidge wore what could only be described as a pirate and an astronaut and a lizard combination. 

Hunks were something more small. He had a long cloak covering him up and a bandana to hide his face. 

They walked up to the greenish orange Olkari by the door. 

The Olkari nodded, which they assumed meant they could go in. 

{Tiberius II, A1, 8:00 pm}

Hunk and Pidge had been watching the fights for a while. Most of them need quickly, as the current champion of the arena(a Toqu who was injected with lion and bull DNA) kept defeating everyone with their brute strength. 

So far Hunk could guess things, Pidge looked sick, and it seemed the experiments seemed to make sentient species more on the feral sides. He knew this because Toqus are quite the diplomatic race. 

He perked up when he saw one familiar face come through the door. 

"Welcome everyone! To the finale of today!" An alien voice said over the crowd. "Please welcome Blue, The Arena Champion of Heriob Mix-5! He's the purr-fect math for Roman here! In case you need to freshen up — blue here is a — wolf — lynx!"

Hunk tuned it out because slowly entering the arena was  _ Lance.  _

**Haha cliff hanger. Let's see, what will happen next chapter? A rescue? A failed rescue? A capture? Who knows I'm winging it here.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next ones gonna be a long one. And I mean a long one. Probably won't be out for at least a few days. Be happy with this snippet.


	7. Follow at a distance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> > "Well," Pidge wipes her scratched hands on her pants, "I found my box of old projects and old rover code I downloaded before they were thrown into the abyss before my eyes." 
> 
> Break before the storm-
> 
> Also they found lance

Rule 25; don't plan rescues on the spot, they won't end well

By moon, beta'd by Zoey

{Tiberius II, A1, 8:00 pm.}

**Previous: Hunk tuned it out because slowly entering the arena was Lance.**

Okay it wasn't exactly  _ lance _ of course it wasn't. But it was still, undeniably _ him.  _ Under the bared fangs, ears flicking around, and the whole  _ wild  _ like look, it was him. 

"Pidge, look, " hunk whispered under his breath to pidge. 

She gasped. "That idiot. "

"So, what do we do? " Hunk asks. They had horrible luck in the search for over three years, and here they were, finding the once person they had been looking for on the first try. 

_ Somethings bound to go wrong.  _

He pushes those thoughts deep, deep down where he won't hear them. No negative thoughts in his brain. 

"We watch. "

Not that Hunk didn't trust Pidge, but sometimes he wonders what goes on in their brain. They should remember that he can't read minds. 

"What do you mean? " Hunk asks. He's glad the roads of the crowd stops people from hearing them. 

"Well, we can't go in right now, that would be stupid. And I can bet my soul that everyone here is highly trained, and we're not the best at hand to hand. It's best we watch, and follow where they take him next, sneak him out from there. " 

"Makes sense. I have a feeling the fight will last for a while though," Hunk says, gripping the railing of the arena. "And the front seats suck. "

"True."

That's when the announcer starts up again. 

"You know the rules! It's fight to the death, fight dirty for all I care!"

"Fight to the death? " Hunk whispered in shock. 

"Claws out!"

"Apparently, " Pidge says and the two opponents circle each other. 

"wings ready! (If you have them!) "

"We can go in if anyone gets too close to death, " She continues. 

_ "Teeth bared! " _

_ "I think I'm gonna be sick," _ Hunk says. 

"FIGHT!"

The Toqu and Lance ran at each other, and Hunk confirmed whatever they injected them with must have made the feral instinct of them more  _ there _ . 

Hunk holds back his puke as Lance lept, and he means lept like jumped a few feet and toppled the Toqu to the ground. That must've taken a lot of strength because the toqu was huge. 

The arena crowd is silent, making him hear every scratch and grunt and growl. 

It's  _ sickening _ that someone would ever do this to a non sentient species, let alone a sentient one. 

He feels pidges arm on his shoulder. 

He still watches, he watches because even though it makes him sick he wants to know if anyone gets hurt. It's in his nature. 

_ The two role around the ground, wrestling for dominance. Before Lance suddenly lets out a screech, not unlike the sound of a bobcat. He pulls up his hand, only it's not hand, it's a  _ paw _ , not a paw. Not a hand either. Hunk doesn't know how to describe it. it's furry and has claws and thick not fingers like paws, but the not fingers are just thin enough to pass off as just really thick fingers, and they can at the very least hold a cup. Just not type. It's the perfect mix.  _

_ And then he swipes her claws against the Toque nose and the bird like alien squacks, or the closest to the squacks they can make with new DNA, and kicks him backwards.  _

_ Lance struggles to get up, small wolf like whimpers filling the arena.  _

_ Hunk doesn't want to watch. He thinks Lance is going to die, and he and Pidge won't make it to the arena in time.  _

_ But then Lance gets up and skitters away like an injured kitten just when the Toqu is about to kill him. He stays behind the Toqu as it turns around looking for him. Then he jumps and bites, yes Hunk says  _ bites _ on the Toqus first right shoulder.  _

_ The Toqu spins around, and stops trying to get the thing off of them, and it does get flinged off. Taking a chunk of flesh with them.  _

_ Lance is thrown across the force field, and lands on his feet. He turns his back to the Toqu, then climbs up the rock below the force field. He's about two meters above to Toqu when it reaches him. He hesitates, before jumping off the wall and soaring through the air, landing on the toqus wings before putting his claws and not paws against the neck, he pushes the claws against the thick skin before tearing it open.  _

_ The fight is over, and soon Lance is being dragged through a hallway.  _

_ Hunk and Pidge follow from a distance.  _

{Tiberius II, 8:30 pm earth time}

"Okay, we wait until they get to their ships. I recognize this as the hallway to the launch pad, then we get in Searcher, can't wait until that temporary name goes away, then when we follow the ship until we're a good hour away from Tiberius II. Then we sneak to the ship and get Lance from under those Unilus noses. If they have noses. " Says Pidge when they reach the door the Unilu and (chained up and leashed like a dog that made Hunk shiver,) Lance just went through. 

Hunk nods. 

"Let's go, " Hunk replies. 

The two open the door, waiting for the Unilu at the door to let them through. 

They make it on their ship. 

{Tiberius II Asphosphere, 8:35 earth time}

They make through the Asphosphere. 

{The Dizie solar system, The searcher, 9:00 pm}

Then the ship wormholes away. Good thing Pidge put a tracker on it. 

{The searcher, 5 days later, 2:00 pm earth time}

"God! "

Bang

"fucking! "

Stomp

"Dammit! " Crash. 

Hunk winces as pidge trips over a box. 

"Hey, you should calm down, " Hunk says. He's testing the waters to see how Pidge reacts, to see if he has to wait or act. 

Paige rolls over on the floor. "I know. But it's just- so hard not to get angry!"

Hunk can relate. Somewhere deep underneath the ground he buried anger in, he was angry. 

Believe it or not, Hunk was a violent jerk until age 9.

A series of beeps catch their attention. 

{The searcher, one hour later)}

"So, what should we call you? " Pidge asks the cat sized robot in front of her. 

It looked like a mix of an old mars rover and beezer

The robot says beep. 

Looked robots do. 

"Guess we'll call you Beeper, Beeper, welcome to the Dynamic Search Dou! " Hunk says with a smile. 

"I thought we agreed to call ourselves the revenge seeking Not-villains…" Pidge said under their breath. 

\---

Rule 47; follow from a distance

{The searcher, 7:00 am earth time}

Breakfast the next day was silent, aside from their new Addition Beeper, until Pidge broke the silence by slamming their fork down. 

"Okay, " Poidge said. "I… get that it's been a horrible month so far, but we need to at least make a plan now that we know where Lance is. "

Beeper beeps something in agreement. 

Hunk hums a small yes. 

"So, any ideas? " She asks. 

"We could sneak onto the ship and just get him out from there, " Hunk answered. 

Pidge eyes him. "Hunk, I love you, but you are the worst when it comes to planning. "

Beeper let's out a series of beeps, a few pictures flash on their screen. 

"Good idea. Follow the ship, we're already doing that. " Pidge replies to Beeper. 

The robot definitely had some level of sentience, hunk thought off handedly. 

Beeper puts forth another series of pictures. 

"We follow at a distance, gather information, then upload a virus onto the ship that lets us get into the main system, then we pilot it into our hull. And then we throw the kidnappers to space? "

Beeper puts out a thumbs up picture. 

"Well, our ship is bigger than most cargo ships, and their ship is just small enough for it to work… " Hunk says after a few minutes of silence. 

"It'll take a few weeks to make the virus, with all the new tech popping up but I'll be able to pull it off in a week at the least. " Said pidge. 

"What do we do during that time though? " Asks hunk. 

Beeper puts a series of pictures on their screen that can only mean 'Take care of yourself'. 

\---

{The searcher, day one, 9:00 am}

Hunk woke up late the next day. He sits up and looks around his room, realizing it's a mess. 

Piles of papers sat on the floor, a few plates here and there, and he could probably see the dust particles if he squinted hard enough. 

When had he gotten that unsanitary? He didn't know. The least he could do for his own wellbeing was to clean up. 

Hunk starts off with sorting the papers into piles of 'don't need' and 'need'. After about an hour of sorting through papers, the majority of them were in the 'don't need' pile. 

He picks up the 'need' pile and walks out into the way. 

His room was close to the kitchen, so he could easily set them on the table. The kitchen was arguably the cleanest thing on the ship. 

Hunk walks back to his room, takes the other pile and throws it in the trash. His room already looks so much cleaner. 

He's about to pick up the first plate when he hears a shout down the hallway. 

"HUNK!"

That's Pidge shouting for him. 

\---

{The searcher, 9:55 earth time}

"What did we learn? " Hunk asks slowly. 

"Don't leave spills unintended, it can end in explosions and chaos. " Podge grumbled. 

"Honestly I didn't expect this to happen since it's been so long since you've done anything like this," Hunk says. 

Pidge rolls her eyes, "I was bored. "

"Not an excuse for blowing the lab up."

{The searcher, 3:00 pm earth}

"Okay, which would get the work done best? The grenade method or the rat method? " Pidge wonders aloud as she types absentmindedly on her laptop. 

Hunk, who was working on figuring out if Beeper was sentient and could potentially help them on their search/now rescue, answers out of instinct: "rat method, grenade method can be easily stopped by firewalls. Functionality over fastest to code. "

Pidge pauses. "But the grenade method will get us in faster, it's better to tell the risk. "

"We, if done correctly, could get in faster, it's also better if two people work on coding it. As well as faster. " Replies hunk before asking Beeper a question. 

Pidge hums. 

"Well come over here and help me. "

{The searcher, 7:00 am earth time}

Hunk after finally finishing cleaning his room still didn't exactly know what to do. 

He decides to watch a movie in the lounge/living room. 

Hunk runs over to the pound, gets on his knew we and lulls oiit a thick book of old earth movies. 

He is through, ignoring the ones he's seen before like "Bolt" And "Coraline".

He eventually finds one he vaguely remembers his parents forcing him to watch because in their childhood it was what everyone was talking about apparently. 

Zootopia. 

Hunk checked, he was pretty sure it wasn't that talked about when they were growing up but it could've been the place they grew up in. 

{The searcher, 8:00 am earth time}

The movie was boring in Hunks opinion. 

So he gets up and walks down to the engines. 

\---

The engines are comforting like always. Hunk pulls out the scanner to look for anything wrong. 

As always, something needed fixing. 

That's the thing about their humble ship. It's a new model on the outside, but an old earth model using screws and bolts on the inside. 

It's a mix of the present and the past. 

It's just the usual, a few bolts here and there needing tightening. 

Hunk yawns. 

{The searcher, 4:00 pm earth time}

Hunk hadn't seen pidge all day, so decided to make the choice to brave their room with Beeper (who he assumed had some sort of semi sentience. He still hadn't decided.) 

He flicked the light on, expecting to find a mess and pidge somewhere sleeping. Instead he found Pidge hauling a box out of her closet. 

"What are you doing?" Hunk asks. 

"Well," Pidge wipes her scratched hands on her pants, "I found my box of old projects and old rover code I downloaded before they were thrown into the abyss before my eyes."

"What are we going to do with this? Also that's a bit dramatic."

"Well, I can try to see if there's something in any of the code in any of these projects that could help us," Pidge drags the box over to Hunk. 

"Want me to help?" Hunk asks. 


	8. Rule 99; viruses and viruses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> > Ten aliens, five olkari and five unilu. At that moment pidge was glad this ship in particular was not powered by balmeran crystals or made from any metal found in space.
>>
>>> Double chapter todays

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just- subconsciously wrote in pidges pov and didnt notice until it was to late
> 
> I spent half the time writing this wondering about katars and the other feeling bad for when when Zoey comes edits this chapter

Rule 99; viruses and viruses  
By moony, beta'd by Zoey 

{The searcher, one week later, 8:00 pm}

"Okay, activate phase one," Hunk says leaning back in his chair. 

"You make it sound like we're in a badass anime, but yeah, the virus has been uploaded," Pidge said. 

Beeper sat with wires connected to the computer. They beep a few times. 

"Yeah yeah, be careful it's just us against ten other people, I don't get how they fit ten people on that ship though. Our ship is cramped for two people and a robot, can't imagine how cramped it is for them." Hunk gives the robot a playful glare. 

"Maybe they're like, really small," Pidge suggested and watched the screen. 

30%

"You saw the guy in the hallway, that's not possible," Hunk replies and peeks over her shoulder. 

35%

"We just saw one guy, the others could be smaller than beeper over here," Pidge laughs. 

40%

"Okay you got me there," Hunk says and reached over to touch the laptop. Only to get his hand smacked away. "Ow…."

"Hah."

"Fuck you," Hunk grumbles. 

Pidge fake gasps, "who the fuck taught you that word!"

"You," He smirks. 

They stare at each other before bursting out in laughter. 

56%

"What will we do when we save him?" Hunk asks quietly.  
Pidge hears her breath hitch. 

"I think we established that we didn't know a while ago," She answers. 

"Yeah, but we should at least have a plan shouldn't we?" Hunk tilts his head. 

"Too late for a plan, look." Pidge points at the computer. 

100%.

\---

"Shit, they have a virus detector!" Pidge exclaims and rushes over to her laptop. 

"Think you can shut it down before it alerts the passengers?" Hunk asks from where he slowly pilots the other ship to their hangar. 

"You know I can," Pidge says and quickly types a few things on her laptop. "We're fine for now, just get them on the hanger in under half an hour, that's when the virus wears off."

"When and why did we decide to make this virus temporary?" Hunk asks and speeds the ship Up a little. 

"So it doesn't mutate and become an actual virus," Pidge replies. 

"Makes sense."

\---

"And touchdown! Quickly, grab your weird version of a katar!"

"On it!" Pidge shouts and snatches her weapon from the ground. She hears Hunks footsteps behind her as they rush to the hanger. 

"This is gonna be a long fight…" Pidge mutters. 

Ten aliens, five olkari and five unilu. At that moment pidge was glad this ship in particular was not powered by balmeran crystals or made from any metal found in space. 

"Ditto."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Ps. Hunk is totally the person who will censor themselves in plubic but when they stub they're town alone in the house they'll say about 50 variations of fuck in under ten seconds off the top of their head.)


	9. Rule 98; fight! Fight! Fight!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is just fight
>
>> Before they leave the room dragging somewhat bloody bodies behind them, pidge pockets the weird device and looks at the ship. 
>> 
>> "Soon." She whispers.
>>
>>> Rule 98; fight! fight! Fight!   
By moony, beta'd by Zoey

A tall olkari struck first and threw the hanger into chaos. 

Pidge barely has time to block one unilus knife slicing toward her (she called them stupid 1) just to be knock down by a short fast olkari. 

She elbows stupid 2s(the short olkari) nose while trying to get up. She sees hunk across the room tackle one of the two snipers just to avoid the second ones bullet. 

She starts to run over to hunk so they can do their usual back to back strategy but is blocked by the unilu they saw in the hallway. 

A big and beefy extra stupid jerk. 

She ducks as they lunge for her, she punches his arm with her hand that has the katar holding it. She pulls it back to see bright yellow blood. Ew. 

The unilu pulls out a sword. 

Oh fuck is all she can think. She doesn't do well against swords. 

Pidge jumps as the sword stabs tworads her legs, barely missing getting them sliced off. 

She jumps onto the unilus back,wrapping her arms around their neck. The sees something fall out the unilus pocket. It's small round and silver with a red button on it. She quickly makes out the words shock on it before turning her attention to the four of six arms sending her flying into a fall. 

She falls onto the floor by hunk who's already dealt with the other sniper by knocking them out a small airlock they had for no reason other for situations like these. 

"Ugh, I feel like shit, " She groans. 

Hunk kicks the other sniper before saying: "you just got thrown into a wall, also why don't we have any guns on this ship?"

Pidge shrugs and pushes herself up. Somehow she kept hold on her weapon. She spots an olkari messing around with some wire in the wall, clear frustration on their fit. 

She easily shocked them with an electric shock to their hands. The holoscreen she had installed on her suit was useful after all. 

She punches the unilu in the face. 

She turns around and sees the big and beefy unilu had found the thing they dropped while they were fighting. 

Pidge felt dread and didn't know why. She doesn't want to find out so she runs over in short bursts of speed, taking down the rest of the olkari left on the way. 

She kicks the unilu over away from the device. She trusts hunk to take care of the rest because she's decided that this bastard is hers. 

She pulls up her hand to punch the unilu in the face. "Bye bye motherfucker, " She whispers before doing so repeatedly. 

They attempt to get away, they do, but not before their face is ruined. They also run right into Hunk who knocked them over the head with the butt of a gun he snatched from the sniper's unconscious body. 

Only one causality. The poor sniper who got thrown out the airlock.

"Help me move these to the 'basement'" Hunk says. 

The basement was actually where the cells of the ship were, but thought it would be funny to call it the basement. 

Before they leave the room dragging somewhat bloody bodies behind them, pidge pockets the weird device and looks at the ship. 

"Soon." She whispers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapters gona actually be a long one I promise


	10. living cargo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> >   
> The whole situation reminded him of when he found Spots. A black and white tuxedo cat who was injured out in the forest by his house. The small black and white tomcat kept hissing at him when he got out the carrier they had bought for him, could've been because he used to be a wild cat. 
>> 
>> They were going to set him free too after he got used to three legs, but then the forest got cut down and they moved. Taking Spots with them. 
> 
> no spots is not a swiftpaw cameo wdym 

Rule 97; living cargo

By moony, beta'd by zoey

Hunk stares at the small cargo ship that somehow fitted ten aliens in it. He has to take deep breaths to not get red in the face. Who knows what went on in that ship? 

"Ready? " He turns to Pidge. 

Pidge doesn't answer for a few seconds before saying, "not really, but we have too. "

Hunk takes a breath before stepping towards the open door. The lights are already on. It's a standard medium sized cargo ship. Hallway at the entrance, doors leading off to different rooms, the kitchen, the pilot's chair and the 'basement cells'. 

Hunk grateful their cargo ship is custom made. And large. 

"He's probably in the basement, " Hunk muttered. 

"Let's go. "

They walk down the ramp into the dark room. The lights immediately shut on.

Hunks and pidges footsteps are purposely loud to alert anyone in the cells that they're there. 

They hear a squeak from the farthest one. 

"Come on! I think he's over there! " Pidge exclaims excitedly and sprints off to the cell. Hunk follows closely. 

They reach it and Hunk almost chokes on his own spit. 

They found Lance. And not in a good state either. 

Sticking out the familiar faces, brown hair was two cat ears pinned back in fear. The usual bright brown and blue eyes were blown wide in terror, covering his arms was fur sticking out in odd angles, where hands should've been could've been paws, but they were not paws. Paw hands. A spiky tail lashed from side to side. It was all the features of a cliche cat boy, but then there were the things that signaled that weren't cliche. The arm fur for one, as well as some fluff on his cheeks. 

Did hunk mention what looked like a collar around his best friends neck? 

Yeah. 

"Oh, my god. I'm going to kill those unilu and olkari, " Pidge says breaking the silence. 

Hunk decides now is the time to unlock the cell that Lance was in. 

"Come on, let's get him out of here first, " Hunk says. Pidge nods in agreement. 

As they open the cell Lance backs farther into it slowly. He's no longer standing up, he's in all fours like an animal. A scared animal. 

"He's scared of us, " Pidge says in realization. 

It hits both of them like a truck. 

"I once saved a cat, it was really scared and it was starving… I lured it out with food… " Hunk said off handedly, noticing how starved Lance looks. 

"He does look hungry, want me to get some goo?" Pidge asks. 

Hunk nods. "Get a few bags of the stuff. And water."

"Well, I'll be right back, " Pidge says. She glances at Lance before sprinting off. 

Hunk walks over, not outside the cell but not inside either. In between. "Hey, buddy? You okay?"

Lance just lets out a cat like hiss and presses himself up against the wall even more. 

Hunk swallows sadly. "It's okay, I'm not gonna hurt you," He uses a calm voice.

The whole situation reminded him of when he found Spots. A black and white tuxedo cat who was injured out in the forest by his house. The small black and white tomcat kept hissing at him when he got out the carrier they had bought for him, could've been because he used to be a wild cat. 

They were going to set him free too after he got used to three legs, but then the forest got cut down and they moved. Taking Spots with them. 

Hunk wonders how spots are doing now. Did he visit the family again bringing with him some dead mice? Or had he gotten run over by a car? 

Hunk shakes his head.  _ Focus on Lance.  _

Hunk backs out the cell. He should give him some space, not giving Spots space when he was terrified usually ended in being scratched. 

Hunk read somewhere about cat body language once, which could be useful at the moment. 

Hunk stays back, watching Lance slowly un-arch his back and his tail stop flicking back and forth. He wasn't fully calm though. Hunk could tell. 

"hunk! I'm back! " Pidge shouted, running over, dragging a few bags of food goo behind her. 

"Quiet!" Hunk whispered yelled as he saw Lance's tail start flicking again. 

Pidge stares over where Lance is. "Oh… what do you want me to do? "

"Hand be a bowl of goo, " Hunk tells her. 

Pidge nods and scoops some food into the bowl she brought. She hands it to Hunk who pushes it forward into the cell Lance is currently hiding himself in. 

"Okay, now hand a water bottle, " Hunk asks. Pidge throws a bottle in his hands. He rolls it over to the bowl. "Now we wait."

"What do we do while doing that? " Pidge asks. 

"We can figure out what's wrong, maybe scan his DNA from your laptop? " Hunk says. 

He watches Lance skitter out from his corner, shove a handful of goo in his mouth, then skitter back to the corner to stare at them. 

"I guess I'll go get it," Pidge said. 

\---

She returned a minute later with her laptop and a scanner. 

Pidge pushes it over to hunk, "you do it. You're better at DNA and stuff than me. "

Hunk nods and types a few things in. A screen pops up saying 'starting scan. '

Hunk and pidge look on over to Lance as the computer scans him. He doesn't notice, more focused on making sure it's safe to take another handful of goo. This time he takes the bowl. 

When Hunk and Pidge don't do anything other than watch the screen, he sprints to the cell entrance. He stays and slowly eats the goo. 

The computer pings quietly alerting them the scan finished. 

Pidge turns to it. The computer says something she doesn't recognize (she's a programmer, she doesn't have any knowledge of biology sue her) 

Hunks notices her glaring at the screen. 

"It's said 53% of his DNA is no longer human if you're wondering, " Hunk informs her. 

"What is the 53% percent of non-human DNA? " Pidge asks. 

Hunk squints. "Can't tell, I only know so much. But we can safely assume it's feline, " He gestured to where Lance was now licking goo off his not-paw/not-hand (haw? Pand?) 

"Yeah, " Pidge said, cringing away. It was on instinct, because really that was disgusting. 

"Oh, we need to get him out of here, " Hunk says. 

"No shit, " Pidge agreed. She tries to take the bowl from Lance. Who held onto it with his teeth, resulting in a game of tug-a-war. 

Did he know who they were? Was he just in a feral state? Or maybe he doesn't remember them and he just recognized them. Hunk wonders, because no way did he calm down that quickly without recognizing them in some way. 

"Oof! " Pidge grunts as she ends up sprawled on the floor with the bowl on her face. "Ewwww, Lance spit. "

Hunk laughs and tales the bowl from her head. 

"So, now that's done. " Hunk says and turns to Lance. "We're gonna be going now, you can follow if you want. "

"What are you doing? " Pidge hissed as he pulled her up from the floor. 

"We need to give him a chance to trust us. If we force him out we'll just scare him more, and obviously he recognized us to some sort of level. Or else he wouldn't have played tug-a-war with you, " Hunk says. Pidge straightens her back and walks with hunk down the hallway. 

"Yeah your right. "

Hunk here's small and fast footsteps (pawsteps?) And he perks up with Pidge.

"Lance! " Pidge exclaims as their friends slide across the floor with a look of surprise and crashes into the wall. 

"Guess paws are like socks aren't they?" Hunk comments (he's calling them paws. It's easier.) "Come one buddy, try to stand up. "

"You sound like you're talking to one year old, " Pidge whispers in his ear. 

"I swear-" Hunk biased. 

He turns his attention to Lance who had his arms out, attempting to balance on two legs again. 

"Want a piggyback instead? " Hunk asks, hoping that Lance has some sort of memory of him and Pidge. 

He opens his mouth to say something, only to close it and nod. 

"Come on then. "

\---

Lance had fallen asleep on his back. 

Hunk lowers his friend onto the couch and turns to pidge. 

"What do we do now that we got him? " Hunk asks. 

"Well, the first priority is to get to earth and prove everyone wrong when they said it was hopeless looking. Can't wait to see those assholes faces. Then we should alert them about SoF just in case they haven't been getting the logs. " Pidge says. 

"Yeah, let's prove them wrong, " Hunks smiles. He pulls up a holo screen and inserts Earth's coordinates into the autopilot. 

Pidge smiles. 

Hunk holds out his arms, "victory hug? "

"Victory hug, " She says and hugs him tight. "Let's make sure our friend is okay."

(concept sketch from my tumblr) 

that was a sketch i did when i first had the idea.  
this whole thing was gonna be from Lances pov and a lot darker (and without the whole- changing dna and fake science thing.) before i was like- how about we do this instead?)


	11. care

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> trust me it hurts me to write Lance like this as much as it proably hurts you to read it but its for the plot i swear i dont plan o nkeeping him like this

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay  
> let me address some things  
> i am not a perfect writer  
> my writings far from perfect  
> theres are going to plotholes and mistakes because this is just first draft thats not fully edited  
> now that thats aside
> 
> lances design is officaly a knockoff catra

Rule 105; care

{the searcher) 

The next few months were... hard. To say the least. 

{the searcher, 5:00 am earth time, day one} 

Pidge woke to a scream. 

She had jumped up from her place on Hunks floor, stumbled and fell on her face. It was too early to be woken up in her opinion. 

“Hey, c’mon let's get up from the floor,” Hunk says and offers out a hand. 

Pidge groans and takes it gladly. She holds her arms, wobbling back and forth. 

“Let's go see what's wrong, that sounded like Lance,” Pidge mumbles and yawns. 

“yeah.” 

___ 

Like Pidge guessed, Lance wasn’t okay when they got to him. He sat huddled on the couch, blanket over his head. They could hear a ugly sobbing noise. 

Pidge pushes Hunk forward, not knowing what else to do. She wasn’t much of a people person and Hunk probably wasn’t going to accidently cause some kind of mental breakdown just by saying something the wrong way. 

She hears snippets of conversation (does it count if only one person is saying something? (“Stop scratching at your neck,”” Calm down buddy,”” are you okay? Use your words I don’t know what that means.”” Okay, maybe not use your voice for now...”)) 

After a few minutes of Hunk trying to understand Lances panicked mimes and calming him to sleep, Hunk walks up to Pidges side. 

“We need to get rid of that collar, it won't do us good in the long run.” 

Pidge nods, staring at the lump of blanket on the couch. 

_ Oh.  _

_ Oh fuck.  _

The weird button device she got from the Unilu was used to activate a fucking shock collar. “Shit,” she whispers. 

“hmm?” Hunk humed in confusion. 

“Uh, so, that’s a shock collar.” Pidge says. 

“...what?” Hunk says quietly, she could hear some anger laced in his voice. She was glad she wasn’t going to be on the receiving end when the dam broke. 

“It's a shock collar, I took a device from the unilu that said ‘shock’ on it. It's most likely it’s a shock collar.” 

Hunk inhales. “Show me.’

Pidge nods and grabs his arm. They start walking to their room.

Pidge hops over the piles of random junk in their room over to the drawer that had the device in it. They grab it from the almost empty drawer and hops back over toHunk.

“Here,” she hands it to him.

“we’ll look into it tomorrow, for now let's get some sleep,” Hunk says. 

{the searcher, 9:00 am earth time, day 1}

Hunk woke thanks to his alarm. He hasn't used the thing in a whole year, but everyone would (hopefully) be asleep at this time for him to make something.

He pushes himself and tiptoes his way to the kitchen. He was careful not to wake Lance, who knew what would happen if he did.

Hunk bends down and pries a panel from the wall, inside sat all his ingredients. He had these saved specifically for when they found who they were looking for. He never told Pidge it was there, wanting it to be a surprise.

He slowly drags each ingredient out.

{the searcher, 9:55 am}

When Pidge walks into the kitchen rubbing her eyes, she does not expect to smell pancakes of all things.

She sits down at the table, laying her head on the table and closing her eyes. The table is cold.

She opens one eye to see a plate set in front of her. 

Pidge pulls her head up from the table and stretches her arms out. “Since when did we have pancake mix?” she mutters.

Hunk sits down in his spot. “Since we left.”

“You’re telling me i'm eating three year old pancakes?” Pidge mumbles and grabs a fork from the plate.

“Pancakes made specifically for long space journeys,” Hunk corrects. Pidge noticed a third plate, with less pancakes. She doesn't say anything.

“So, should we wake him up or no?” Pidge asks gesturing over to the lump on the couch that was currently Lance.

“Let him sleep,” Hunk says, before cutting into his pancakes. Pidge keeps her eyes on Lance for a second, then turns to her food.

____

{The Searcher 1:00 pm earth time}

Hunk and Pidge were sitting running ship diagnostics when Lance woke up.

They had been talking until Pidge felt a shift in the air and paused.

Pidge shut off the laptop and handed it to Hunk who was confused (pidge quickly explained, he still didn't get it.)

“Go make sure he's alright,” Pidge says, pushing hunk forward. Hunk hesitates.

“Wouldn't it be a good idea for you to do it too? He needs to know we’re both here for him…” Hunk suggests. Pidge stops.

They don't get to discuss that though, because Lance was sitting on the couch wrapped up in blankets rubbing his eyes. He stares at them, before flopping back down on the couch.

“Should we get back to running the diagnostic?” Pidge asks after a few seconds of silence.

“Sure,” Hunk says.

Pidge turned around to open her laptop again, only to pause because something warm, fuzzy, and a little sharp (like when you get a shot) was latching onto her arm. She turns around and sees Lance staring at her (it looked more of a blue glow coming from the darkness of blankets) from under the blankets.

“Okay… The diagnostic can be run later,” Hunk said.

{The Searcher, 2:00 pm earth time}

After eventually getting the diagnostic done (involved a lot of patience and wiggling,) Hunk and Pidge decided what they would have to do for the next few months until they got back to earth.

They were in Hunks room, closer to the living in case something happened, and by far way cleaner than Pidges room.

“Okay, first we need to figure out if he fully remembers us,” Hunk starts. “Obviously, SoF did something with the mind. Or else he wouldn't have killed anyone.”

Pidge thinks. it's reasonable, but who knew what went on in that place. It could have changed him. “Well, the arena could have changed him….”

“True, but we could run a brain scan just in case?” hunk says.

“I don't think that would work, one, we don't have the right devices and second neither of us know enough about the human brain to do anything,” pidge looks through their options. “The best we can do is ask questions about things that happened in the past.”

“Yes or no questions right?” Hunk asks.

“Yes or no questions,” Pidge confirms.

{8:00 pm, earth time, the searcher,}

The Searcher was smaller than most L-Class cargo ships, hell, if could even be called L-Class. The size and max capacity is more on the S-Class side than L-Class. And yet, here they were, three humans and a robot on this small L-Class ship, trying to figure out the workings of time and space.

That sounded to cliche.

The Searcher was, while yes, still a small L-class ship more on the S-class side than the L-class. It was a ship of two determined humans, their maybe human friend they saved, and the robot no one has seen in a day.

Pidge liked to think she was an emotionally stable person. Heck, she _ was _ an emotionally stable person. But right now she was ready to scream and throw herself out the airlock if meant something good would happen on this ship.

After about fifty questions and fifty shrugs and looks of confusion from their resident now traumatized friend, they came up with a solution. That one, Lance does not remember his past in the slightest, and two, he only recognizes them from somewhere deep deep down.

Pidge gets up from the spot on the blanket. She walks to the kitchen with more than a few thoughts on her mind.  _ Will he ever remember us? Is he going to be doomed to live in the small space between animal and human? _

Pidge takes in a huge breath. She's not going to cry, she's going to figure out a way to solve this. She takes a bowl from the cabinet and scoops some goo into it. She grabs a spoon, sloppily scooping up the goo and shoving it in her mouth.

She stops and stares at the goo. It tastes horrible. She shoves more into her mouth. Who cares if it tastes horrible, it's better than what some people could be eating.

After Pidge is done she flops her head on the counter. She feels tears fill up her eyes, she quickly wipes them away. She's not going to cry, she's going to fix this and be strong while doing it.

She stands up, and walks back to the living room. She sits back down by Hunk.

“Hey Pidge, you doing alright?” Hunk asks her. Pidge nods her head. She stares at Lance who had curled up and fallen asleep in the time she was gone. They had saved him from SoF, but at what cost?

“Yeah, i'm alright….”

{the searcher, 4:24 am earthtime, day two}

If there's one thing Pidge hates, it's not knowing things. It's just in her nature to just  _ want _ to know things. There's another thing she hates. Change. It's something that can happen slowly or unexpectedly, it's unpredictable. And Pidge likes predictable, she likes knowing whether or not something is going to work.

Which is why she hates this situation. She doesn't know if Lance is going to be okay. And she hates it.

Pidge wakes up that morning at six am from someone shaking her. She opens her eyes and sees icy blue eyes staring at her.

Pidge shoots up, startled. She flicks on the light and looks around frantically. She lets out a sigh of relief when she sees Lance pressed up the wall shielding his eyes from the light, and not some weird space monster that snuck onto the ship.

“Hey, Lance,” She says and sits back down on her bed. She yawns. “You okay?”

Lance stares at her for a few seconds before nodding his head. 

Pidge squints at him. “You sure?”

He doesn't seem okay. Pidge doest know much about might've changed, but she’s good enough with body language to know he's not okay. She ignores it when she sees him nod again.

“Well… uh. I'm going to go back to sleep…. You can do whatever,” Pidge said awkwardly. Even if she knows people well enough to know something wrong, she doesn't know how to deal with people.

Pidge pulls her blanket over her head. “Goodnight… I guess.”

{the searcher 8:38 am, earth time, day two}

Pidge wakes on her own accord, noticing something warm and furry brushing by her feet. She sits up and lets her eyes adjust to the darks. She pulls her blanket away from her feet, She sees a shadow of someone. The only way she knows it’s Lance is the fact it can literally be no one else. 

Pidge, being as quiet as she can as to not wake up her friend, gets off her bed. After pausing for a few seconds to make sure Lance doesn't wake up, she tiptoes away from the bed and out her door.

The air is cold since the heating for the ship hasn't kicked in for the day. She yawns and stretches out her arms. She walks quietly to the living room.

She sits down on the couch. Looking around, she spots her phone she hadn't touched in a while. It was quite useless in space, since they didn't live in a fancy ship with WiFi and other fancy things. She thirdly grabs it.

It's an old phone. Like, a really old phone. It was a hand me down from her grandparents from the 21st century. Her grandma always joked about how surprised she was that humanity survived to where they are now.

Pidge turns it on and quickly presses her thumb on the fingerprint lock. The thing should be destroyed by now, but when you're from a family of geniuses old things are new things. If that makes sense. She decides the only good thing she could do at that point was scroll through her pictures.

She scrolls far down. She landed on November 13, 2106. Three days before they had single handedly started the revelation that aliens existed (they being team voltron.)

There's barely any photos, but they were still there. The only one there was of her, Hunk, and Lance smiling into the camera (or, Hunk and Lance were smiling, Pidge was holding back her smile and attempting to scowl.)

She never had the heart to delete that photo. She sighs and puts it back where it was.

Time to do something useful, she tells herself. She quickly eats some goo, and goes to wake Hunk. It's around 11:00 am.

Pidge expects to see Hunk asleep on his bed. She instead was greeted by Hunk trying to see if Lance still knew the basics of things like math and reading. Keyword: trying. Lance kept getting distracted by the blankets.

Pidge takes in the sight before her. A book lay forgotten on the floor, Hunk was attempting to wrestle the blankets out of Lance's claws, and Lance was being persistent in keeping the blankets.

Truly a cat at heart. The thought reminded her about the current situation and how her friend actually had feline blood in him. She pushes that thought down, she's not going to let that ruin her perfectly good day. 

She watches as Hunk tries his very best to pull the blankets from Lances hands. The latter is very stubborn however, and holding on with all his might.

The two play tug-a-war with the blanket before Lance lets go and Hunk is flinged onto the floor. Lance looks very proud of himself, tail held high and a grin on his face.

Pidge holds back her laugher, only to fail miserably and let out a loud pig like snort.

Hunks jumps up from where he was groaning on the floors and Lances ears flick toward her. 

“Jesus Chirst, where did you come from?” Hunk says.

“The hallway,” Pidge smirks. her eyes flick over to Lance who had snatched the blankets from under Hunks nose. “Think you might want to turn around.”

Hunk turns around.

“Lance no!” he all but screeches and lunges for the blanket. He gets to it just in time to snatch it away from Lance's arms. “Distract him,” Hunk whispers to her.

Pidge nods. She remembers something she had in her pocket. She pulls out a feather from her shorts pocket (dont ask why she has a feather in there. she doesn't know either,) and throws it as hard as she can towards Lance.

It only gets so far, because throwing a feather is like throwing paper that is not folded properly. Not that that stops it from catching Lance's attention.

He stares at it falling to the floor, quick as lighting he shoots both his arms to catch it.

Hunk comes back with a bowl of goo and some paper.

“Hunk!” Pidge smiles, snatching the feather from Lance's hands. He glares at her.

“Hey, again. So anyway, before Lance got distracted by the blankets, which I had to put in a very secret location, I was testing if he still knew the basics of reading, math and such. To see if he needs to relearn everything. Which would suck if he did,” Hunks says.

“Definitely would suck. Middle school already sucked without all the drama, don't want to go through it again. Also neither of us know how to teach.” Pidge agrees. She gestures for him to sit down.

“Hey Lance, can you pay attention for a bit?” hunk asks, catching Lances attention.

Lance Stares at them.

“We’re gonna take that as a yes, Hunk hand me some paper,” Pidge says. She grabs a pencil from the pile hunk brought. Hunk hands her some paper.

She scribbles something onto the paper, a simple math problem. 5x6. She hands to paper to Lance. 

“Okay, try and solve this,” she tells him. Lance grabs a pencil and has shit eating grin on his face. After a few seconds of scribbling, he proudly showed her the paper.

It was a drawing of a bird with glasses. Nice to know that even though he didn't exactly remember much he still kept his…. impeccable humour. 

“Yeah this is going to be a long road to normal….” Hunk says. He looks at the bowl of goo he forgot he was holding. He hands it to Lance. “Also here.”

Lance proceeds to shove half to goo in his mouth and swallow without chewing. Pidge was 99% sure he was going to choke.

He didn't and she let out a sigh of relief.

hunk, however just stared at him for a few seconds before shaking his head. “You need to chew, jesus christ.”

“Well, I'll be going and landing the ship at a swap moon. We’re currently in the Rquel Galaxy, which has Swap Moons everywhere if you haven't noticed.”

“Sounds good, I'll try to work with Lance,” Hunk says.

Pidge leaves the room.

{11:303, the searchers earth time, day 2}

Pidge landed on the swap moon for three\ things. One, pads, she was running out. Two, cat toys. and Three, school books.

And pidge knows exactly where to find it. This was the same swap moon they landed on so long ago, the one with the earth store. She leaves a note on the kitchen counter.

_ Going to the swap moon we got banned from!!! _

_ Wish me luck _

_ -sincerely, the only other person on this ship that can write fully formed sentences  _

Pidge steps out and pulls her hood up. Thank god she was wearing a hoodie or that would look suspicious as hell (not that she already looked suspicious.)

She doesn't know how she still knows the way to the earth store after only being to it once years ago, but she makes it and that's what matters. Everything in the store is modern now, current earth jazz. The same owner from years ago stands at the front,

“Hi,” she greets before walking into the store. It's not as empty as it was, a few aliens were looking at things here and there, but it still obviously didn't sell much.

Anyways. Mission number one: pads. The most important if she says so herself. 

Pidge grabs a basket from the front (the store was dedicated to being like an earth store, if only they actually organized its shit,) and starts to scan the aisles for what she's looking for. She finds a single laser pen, which she drops into the basket. After a few minutes of searching, she finds what whes looking for. Pads.

She shoves all of them into her basket.

Mission two: cat toys,

Pidge thinks she saw them in the next aisle. But she's not sure. She walks around and spots a box of cat toys, Perfect. She digs through them and ends up with a feather on a stick, a squeaky mouse, and a few things she didn't know how to even describe.

Mission three; school books

Those are easy to find, she finds them at the back, Grades kindergarten to 12th grade. All the things she needs. She drags everything to the counter.

“5000 gac,” The cashier says dryly.

“Do you accept earth payments?” Pidge asks, she doesn't want to waste all their gac, they only had so much.

“Yeah.” 

“Okay here” Pidge says and hands the alien her credit card.

It only costs about fifty dollars in all. 

\---

She gets back at 11:55.

Hunk and Lance are sitting in the hanger, Hunk as asking questions and Lance seems to be ignoring him in favour of scribbling something on the paper he was holding. 

“Hey, guys, I'm back!” She shouted into the hanger.

Hunks waves her over, Lances only sign of acknowledgement is his ears turning towards the sound of her voice.

She drops her bags (one for the pads, and the other or the toys and schoolbooks,) “So, what's happening?”

Hunk sighs, “I've been trying to see if Lance can write anything, but he just keeps drawing pictures of what i think is memes. Which is weird, he doesn't remember us or most things he's learned in school, but he remembers memes of all things.”

“Well, I got some cat toys for until we’re able to get him out of this human-feline limbo, and some school books from the space mall. I also got some girl stuff so don't ask about the other bag you nosy shit,” Pidge tells,

“I'm not nosy!” Hunk grumbles.

“You read my diary once,” Pidge retorted.

“Yeah, like over a decade ago!” 

A high pitched sneeze interrupts their banter. They turn to stare at Lance who was rubbing his nose and looking at it cross eyed in confusion.

Pidge fights back a “aww”, Hunk doesn't even try. Lance stares him down with murder in his eyes. 

“Who wants to watch a movie?” Pidge asks.

{the searcher, 6:00 pm earth time, day 2,}

After watching Wall-E and The Lion King, as well as some knock off Bambi that made them laugh, they didn't know what to do.

pidge suggested they played a game, but Hunk quickly shot that down.

After that Hunk suggested dinner, but Pidge said it was too early for that.

It was only when lance dug through the bag she bought and pulled around the laser pointer did they have an idea.

Pidge and Hunk grin at each other, while Lance stares in confusion. Pidge takes the laser pointer and activates it. A red dot appears on the wall.

Lances eye twitches.

After a few seconds he ends up leaping head first into the wall. 

Pidge quickly deactivates the laser pointer to make sure he's okay. She gets up and smiles at the wall proudly, as if he saved it from destruction.

“Hey, we should get him to sleep then talk about what to do,” Hunk tells her. Pidge nods in agreement.

“Well, let's do this.”

Lets just say getting Lance to sleep involved a lot of pouting, scratching, biting and dragging.

  
  



	12. eaurgghhh

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> why i havent been updting

i hate to be one of those authors   
but

i have to edit like 24k words  
im still writing this tho  
im nearin 25.

yeah.

expect to a see chapter in like- idk a few months? im not trying to get any hopes up bc editing takes a hella long time for me so....


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